Profligate leftist prostitution partying from who knows where. || "It is now less and less necessary for the writer to invent the fictional content of his novel. The fiction is already there. The writer's task is to invent the reality." -- JG Ballard. || "You try running with your sagging breasts down the middle of the fucking street. People will throw a blanket over you. And grab you. And call the police. For fuck's sake." -- Germaine Greer.

The one point he made that did have something resembling a kernel of truth was the observation that "[W]hen two-thirds of people think the benefits system is too generous and
discourages work then it has to be changed or we risk a total collapse
in public support for welfare existing at all". This though is based on the misconception that out of work benefits are generous; I don't think I've seen a single columnist or newspaper editorial point out that as Jobseeker's Allowance for the over 25s is currently £71 a week, if Osborne's uprating takes place those out of work can look forward to an extra 71 pence a week from next April. It's true that when other benefits are taken into consideration alongside JSA or ESA that the picture isn't quite as bleak; housing benefit, council tax benefit and child benefit for those who have a family alter the picture somewhat, but they don't change the fact that the system is often very far from generous, and will be even less so once the £26,000 cap comes in, ignoring exceptional individual circumstances.

Much of the rest of the speech was given over to claims of how everything the Lib Dems have done in coalition has been rooted in the centre ground, a sure sign of desperation from a party which gained support at the last election because, err, they were rightly seen as being to the left of centre. It can't help but remind of Aneurin Bevan's aphorism that we know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. In Clegg's case it would certainly be a relief for us all.